This blog is dedicated to progressive and liberal thought. It also discusses new technology, how technology affects privacy and developments in Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rightardia fully supports the rights of workers to organize, the feminist movement, and all Americans regardless or ethnicity, sex or gender.It uses humor, satire and parody to expose conservative thought for what it truly is: BS! Rightardia contributes to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and MoveOn.Org.

Monday, August 24, 2015

In the early days of
the industrial revolution, capitalism had two classes: the capitalistic
class and the working class. The capitalists wore tops hats and
suits and the workers--work clothes. This was the case in the US
after the Civil war and until the height of the Progressive movement.

Workers worked 60
hours a week under oppressive conditions. There were no benefits, and
safety in the work place was non-existent. Child labor was common.
Many of the industrial management practices in the US were based on
techniques used during slavery in the antebellum South

It wasn't until the
Progressive movement which broke up trusts, the rise of labor unions
and the New Deal that a vibrant middle class developed in the US.

It seems the entire
objective of Red State conservatism and,in particular,
libertarianism, is to return the US to a two class system.
Conservatives have achieved this to a certain degree already. The
middle class has been declining since the Reagan era and class
mobility in the US is the most stagnant of the industrial nations.
Even billionaires are concerned about lack of social mobility in the
US.

In the past, a
college education was a ticket out of the working class, but college
expenses have risen as fast as medical care and many young people do
not wanted to be saddled with lifelong student debt. Extending public
education two more years may provide a partial solution to the
conundrum millennials are now in.

Student debt and
working wages are the main reason millennial couples cannot afford
to purchase a house. Blackstone, the hedge fund has been buying up
houses in the $100-$150K range because it suggests “renting is the
new American dream.”

Conservatives say
the nation will be better off with more privatization and less
regulation. They support right to work laws and want to raise the
retirement age for Social Security, which will be raised to 67
shortly, and to privatize Medicare and Veterans Affairs.
Conservatives also strongly resisted the Affordable Care Act which
has reduced the number of medically uninsured to below 10 per cent in
the US for the first time.

Red Staters can
waive their Confederate flags, picket planned parenthood clinics and
yell about State's Rights, but
it is clear the Red States lag behind the Blue in many areas: lower
literacy rates and higher drop out rates, more STDs and teen
pregnancy, lower wages and more poverty. Most of the federal welfare
disbursements in the US go to the Red States.

In the end the Blue
States with more liberal polices win. Many of the people who live in
the Red States will be lucky to make it to 74. Most of the people in
the Blue States live past 80 years of age.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Melania Knauss-Trump was born Melanija Knavs, Her name was Gormandize to Melania Knauss after she arrived in the US.

She is a former model, a jewellery designer, and the wife of American billionaire Donald Trump.

She married Donald Trump in 2005 in a an Episcopal church. Melania was born in Slovenia, a nation that had been part of Yugoslavia. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006.

It is hypocritical that Donald Trump is married to a recent immigrant from Europe , yet he wants to build a $2 billion dollar wall between Mexico and the US to keep Central American immigrants out.

Donald Trump recently said:

When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best,” They're not sending you, they're sending
people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems.
They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists and
some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and
they're telling us what we're getting.

People from 75 nations have been apprehended at the border and most are form Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, not Mexico.

If The Donald was somehow to become president, Melania Trump would be the first immigrant First Lady (FLOTUS).

Judging by the pictures, the First HOTUS might be a more apt description.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Rightardia recently
discovered that Rand Paul is not fully human. He is part hobbit and
part human, a rare hybrid that Hobbits call halflings.

Lat month Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) mocked members of the conservative grassroots
movement as “Tea-Party hobbits.”

Senator Rand Paul
(R-Ky) responded:

I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll.

This exactly what a
hobbit would say because hobbits and trolls are mortal enemies.

Rightardia used the
Hobbit name generator to reveal Rand Paul's real name. It is

Marroc “Panky“
Sandydowns

Paul's hobbit friends referred to him as Panky because he was always
involved on some sort of hanky panky in the Middle Earth.

In fact, one of his biggest pranks was his religious “Aqua Buddha“
movement. He even kidnapped a female hobbit and tried to convert her
to Aqua Buddhism.

Can Rand Paul run for president since he was not even born in country
like Kenya? Since he was born in the Middle Earth, legal scholars say he
will not have “birthright citizenship” under the 14th
amendment and public law (8 U.S.C.§ 1401).

Rand Paul needs to produce his birth certificate before his candidacy
goes any further.

Paul even got a Middle Earth
endorsement form Smaug, Smaug is the evil dragon from The Hobbit.

Smaug appeared on The Colbert Report, displaying
a broad range
of conservative views. The Dragon stated America should go back to
the gold standard, a view he shares with Rand Paul.

Smaug also an advocate of Florida’s controversial
stand-your-ground law, citing his experience with the thief, Bilbo Baggins.

How would you feel is someone wearing a hoodie broke into your
cave?

The Dragon noted Rand Pails short stature (5'8“) is tall for a
hobbit. But his pubescent face and pubic head of hair are classic
hobbit good looks.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Donald Trump is well-known for being an eccentric blow hard. He is a successful real estate developer, but hardly the most successful in NYC. The Durst organization, for example, is several times larger.

Trump pledged to Republicans in the first GOP debate Thursday night that he would run third party of he doesn't get the nomination.

He also mishandled Megyn Kelly's question about derogatory comments Trump has made about women. Trump knew the question was coming and fumbled it. He deflected the "fat pig" quote with a one liner about Rosie O'Donnel,

He could have responded to the other inappropriate comments he's made about women with an apology, but that not "The Donald's style.

Donald Trump is a good example of what Lawrence Kohberg would describe as pre-conventional. Looks at Trumps' comment his refusal to pledge to support the GOP nominee:

“Why should I give up that leverage? If they don’t treat me
well, you know, you’re talking about the establishment Republicans. If
they don’t treat me well Sean, why should I make that pledge?

This is an example of what Lawrence Kohlberg would call pre-conventiaonl thinking. In other words, you rub my back and I rub yours. This is tit for tat thinking or what attorneys call quid pro quo.

Wikipedia described it this way:The pre-conventional level of moral reasoning is especially common in
children, although adults can also exhibit this level of reasoning.
Reasoners at this level judge the morality of an action by its direct
consequences. The pre-conventional . . . is solely concerned with the
self in an egocentric manner. A child with pre-conventional morality has
not yet adopted or internalized society's conventions regarding what is
right or wrong, but instead focuses largely on external consequences
that certain actions may bring.

Pre-conventionals think right action consists of whatinstrumentally satisfies one's own needs. Vengeance is
considered a moral duty. Peopleare valued in terms of their utility. It's "An
eye for an eye" philosophy. Kohlberg referred to such people as instrumental egoists.

Here is another example. Trump explains his donations to the Clintons. Trump invites them to come to his wedding as a joke,

“they (the Clintons) did
come to the wedding, but they came because I’m a donor. If I wanted
something, I’ve never wanted anything, but if I wanted something — and
I’ve contributed.

Here is a third example of pre-conventional thinking:

"Honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice
to you, although I could probably not be based on the way you have
treated me. But I wouldn't do that."

Pre-conventional thinkers use prid quo pro thinking. You do something for me and I do something for you, Kohlberg called this simple reciprocity.

The Donald could have retained low tones after the debate, but he called Megyn Kelly a "bimbo and a lightweight. Trump also said her questions were very unfair. He added injury to insult by saying on CNN:

You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.

Trump later slammed Erick Erickson of the RedState Gathering for disinviting him. The event features GOP presidential hopefuls this weekend in Atlanta.Trump was scheduled to give the keynote speech Saturday night.

As
for Erickson -- who is also a Fox News contributor -- Trump called him a
"total loser" who "has a history of supporting establishment losers in
failed campaigns so it is an honor to be uninvited from his event."

This is a typical pre-conventioanl repsonse.

When
Erickson told the gathering Saturday morning that Trump would not be
attending, the news was greeted with a mix of applause and boos.

Folks,
I've given Donald Trump a lot of latitude because he's not a
professional politician. He's been a very blunt talker. I've said some
dumb things in my life, then I've apologized for them,

Erickson continued. "I've got my wife here, I've got my daughter here,
I've got 800 friends of mine here. It's a family-friendly program, and
if he's not going to clarify that this isn't what he meant, I don't
think I want him at my event."

Does Trump have a problem with women? Penny Young Nance, the CEO and president
of the conservative group Concerned Women for America, told CNN that
Trump's "tantrum was even more enlightening than his original remarks
she questioned."Every presidential election since 1964 has been carried by
women. Women don't like mean and we certainly won't vote for men or
women we don't trust. Trump's biggest woman problem is how does he
convince women to trust him. . .

Trump does have a problem with women, who are 53 per cent of the electorate. In Trumps' first divorce, his wife refused to have sexual relations with him for 16 months and it was alleged in the divorce proceedings that Trump raped her while pulling out her hair, Later Ivana said the rape "was not in the criminal sense.

Give thanks to Megyn Kelly for outing a man who is unfit to be president. We don't need a bully in the bully pulpit. We do not need to a President who makes rash decisions because he is offended by someone or something in the international community. source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/27/ex-wife-donald-trump-made-feel-violated-during-sex.html

Thursday, August 6, 2015

When you get a medical appointment with the VA, you go to a VA Medical Center (VAMC) or a Community-BasedOutpatientClinic (CBOC) or clinic.

You may be seen by a physician, a physician assistant (PA) or a nurse practitioner (NP). All three are collectively referred to as clinicians.

Suppose you get a bad clinician. I hear about complaints about "doctors" all he time on the Internet. Of course, the bad doctor may a PA or an NP because the VA has a huge shortage of physicians. In fact, VA secretary, Bob McDonald, wants to hire 28,000 for physicians.

Bad doctors are not unique to the VA. In the past 7 years, I changed private practice endocrinologists twice and neurologists once. You can often go on the Internet to find information on physicians, PAs and NPs. You can also subscribe to Angie's List and pay an extra fee to get patient ratings of people and institutions in the medical community.

If you get a bad VA clinician , what can to do? You can contact the Patient's Advocate office and ask for a new physician. Make it clear you want a physician, and not a PA or NP.

If the second physician is also problematic, then go back to Patient Advocates Office and file another complaint.

This time a patient affairs is supposed to assign a private practice physician to provide medical care.

Hopefully your third attempt for medical care will be successful.

By the way, the CBOCs or clinics often have many of the functions that a VAMC has. For example. the Palm Harbor CBOC has both Patient Advocate and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) offices.